DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1530Z August 16, 2016
SMOKE: Western to Central US: A large area of thin to moderately dense smoke extended from eastern Oregon across Idaho, Wyoming, and southwestern Montana to western Nebraska and northeastern Colorado. The smoke became thinner in density as it spread farther to the east and northeast from along the Kansas-Nebraska border reaching to perhaps as far east as southwestern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois though it is uncertain how much of the aerosol seen in satellite imagery extending from from Iowa and northern Missouri to Wisconsin and Illinois is actually composed of smoke. Farther to the west, thin bands of light density smoke also extended from the larger area southward over eastern Nevada to southwestern Utah and into northern and central Utah. The thickest smoke within the large area was a batch of dense smoke centered around the Oregon-Idaho border. The source for all of this smoke was believed to be primarily the larger wildfires burning in eastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho though some contribution from other fires over western and southwestern Montana, southeastern Idaho, and northwestern Wyoming is also likely. California: A patch of mainly thin density smoke attributed to the fires in Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties was visible over west central and central California. Moderately dense to thick smoke was confined to small spots very close to the actual fires. Northwestern to Central Canada: Wildfires in southwest Northwest Territories, southeast Yukon and northern British Columbia were responsible for a leftover detached area of thin to moderately dense smoke which stretched from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories southward into northern and central Manitoba. Farther to the east, a much smaller patch of thin density leftover smoke from these fires was located over eastern Nunavut extending across the northwest portion of Hudson Bay. JS THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE. TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOURCE FIRE IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE: JPEG: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/land/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov